An almost weekly update of environmental news, particularly marine updates, with occasional splatters of transportation, indigenous, ideas of sustainability and sustainable development from around the world.

14.8.07

Arsenic Leaks Into Southern China River

Aug 14 2007 (TODAY)

BEIJING - A chemical plant leaked arsenic into a river in southern Chinathat supplies water to at least 20,000 people, a human rights group said.

High levels of arsenic and other chemicals have killed at least 10,000fish in the 70km Chongan river in Guizhou, the Hong Kong-based InformationCentre for Human Rights and Democracy said on Sunday.

No human injuries have been reported, the group said. Provincial and localenvironmental agencies have gone to the area, it added.

Calls to the local government office and the provincial environmentaloffice rang unanswered yesterday.

China's waterways are dangerously polluted after decades of rapid economicgrowth and lax enforcement of pollution controls. Last month, a lead-zincspill in a river in Hunan province forced a one-day cut in water suppliesto more than 200,000 people.

In 2005, an accident caused a chemical plant to spew tonnes of toxicnitrobenzene and other chemicals into north China's Songhua River, forcingauthorities to temporarily halt supplies of running water to millions ofpeople. - AP